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He has a point, but this is Hacker News. VCs most certainly do not want to invest in you if you just want to "make a dent". Everyone is searching for that next

He has a point, but this is Hacker News. VCs most certainly do not want to invest in you if you just want to "make a dent". Everyone is searching for that next unicorn. If you don't want to be a unicorn, the VCs have no use for you.

onion2k 10y ago
Not every fund is a Greylock or a Sequoia. There are VC funds around who're interested in finding ideas that are simply scaleable, profitable businesses. You need to have the ambition to take a (relatively) small sum and return a good multiple, but that doesn't mean you have to be working in a $billion+ market.
dsr_ 10y ago
I rather think DHH is saying: don't try to be a unicorn. Don't take VC money, don't even look for it. Build a business starting with the resources you have on hand. End up happier with a profitable small business.
rfrey 10y ago
"but this is Hacker News." I don't think I understand what that means. HN has always had a rich mixture of VC-seeking entrepreneurs, spare-time hackers, software hackers, hardware hackers, greyhair DB analysts, academics and PhD students, and curious 9-5 bystanders. The community certainly provides good publicity for YC, but I never got the impression that pg intended this board to be exclusively a place to talk about VC investment or what it takes to get it. Exactly the opposite in fact, a wide diversity of experience and subjects was (and still is) encouraged. I have no way to gauge, but I'll bet HN members interested in surfing VC-infested waters are a small minority of the people here. This article is right on point for a large number in this community.
coldtea 10y ago
>He has a point, but this is Hacker News. Hackers News has tens of thousands of readers (if not more) tons, if not most, of which are not in SV style VC startups. Including enterprise programmers and "lifestyle business" owners. >Everyone is searching for that next unicorn. If you don't want to be a unicorn, the VCs have no use for you. You also don't have use for the VCs, so that's a moot point. A business like Basecamp can be started on a credit card, or a simple bank loan.
tempodox 10y ago
The point of the article is that you don't need the VCs.
dang 10y ago
Far more HN commenters (and voters) identify against VC than with it.

onion2k 10y ago

Not every fund is a Greylock or a Sequoia. There are VC funds around who're interested in finding ideas that are simply scaleable, profitable businesses. You need to have the ambition to take a (relatively) small sum and return a good multiple, but that doesn't mean you have to be working in a $billion+ market.

dsr_ 10y ago

I rather think DHH is saying: don't try to be a unicorn. Don't take VC money, don't even look for it. Build a business starting with the resources you have on hand. End up happier with a profitable small business.

rfrey 10y ago

"but this is Hacker News." I don't think I understand what that means. HN has always had a rich mixture of VC-seeking entrepreneurs, spare-time hackers, software hackers, hardware hackers, greyhair DB analysts, academics and PhD students, and curious 9-5 bystanders. The community certainly provides good publicity for YC, but I never got the impression that pg intended this board to be exclusively a place to talk about VC investment or what it takes to get it. Exactly the opposite in fact, a wide diversity of experience and subjects was (and still is) encouraged. I have no way to gauge, but I'll bet HN members interested in surfing VC-infested waters are a small minority of the people here. This article is right on point for a large number in this community.

coldtea 10y ago

>He has a point, but this is Hacker News. Hackers News has tens of thousands of readers (if not more) tons, if not most, of which are not in SV style VC startups. Including enterprise programmers and "lifestyle business" owners. >Everyone is searching for that next unicorn. If you don't want to be a unicorn, the VCs have no use for you. You also don't have use for the VCs, so that's a moot point. A business like Basecamp can be started on a credit card, or a simple bank loan.

tempodox 10y ago

The point of the article is that you don't need the VCs.

dang 10y ago

Far more HN commenters (and voters) identify against VC than with it.